Hermione's woes
by little miss gwendoline
Summary: Hermione wakes up to find that Hogwarts, and all her adventures there, are merely a figment of her imagination.


This is my first fan fiction ever. I hope you like it.

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Hermione looked over her Potions essay one more time and scratched her chin with her quill thoughtfully. Her mind wandered as the light from the common room fire flickered over her parchment. 

_It's Ron's birthday tomorrow,_ she thought to herself, _I can't believe I bought him a present. How could I even think about him when all he sees is Lavender?_

As if on cue, she heard giggling float through the portrait hole as 'Won-Won' and Lavender made their entrance into the Gryffindor common room. She regarded them with a look of sheer contempt, and then quickly snapped her eyes away before Ron could catch sight of her.

Turning back to her parchment, she attempted to look engrossed with her already finished essay. She had tried every tactic she could think of to hurt Ron for betraying her so utterly. Thinly veiled anger had failed her thus far and completely ignoring him was not proving to be any better.

When she started to hear the tell-tale wet noises coming from the armchair opposite her, Hermione couldn't take it anymore. She tried to calm her churning stomach as she gathered her things and strode purposefully up to the girl's dormitory. No spell could ever erase the image of Ron trapped in Lavender's Devil's Snare embrace from her memory.

With a resigned sigh, Hermione dropped her belongings into her trunk and laid her weary head on her pillow. She could feel the tears build up behind her eyes and angrily wiped away any evidence of their existence, even though she was completely alone.

In an attempt to take her mind off Ron, she thought _Accio book_. She had become quite proficient at non-verbal spells and managed a ghost of a smile as the voluminous text floated out of her trunk and landed neatly on her bed. She lifted the cover of _The subtle art of Apparition_ and turned to the page she had marked on Splinching.

After the library had failed to enlighten her on Horcruxes, Hermione had been reluctant to return to seek help in Apparition. Though she had studied it as thoroughly as she possibly could before her first lesson with Wilkie Twycross, she was frustrated to find that she was unable to master it within the hour. She hated it when practical skills evaded her, but knew that the only reason for her not being able to Apparate was the fact that her mind was elsewhere at the time.

_Damn it, _she thought angrily, _I'm thinking about him again. Why do I have to do this to myself, when I have so many other more important things to think about? Sometimes I wish that I had never laid eyes on Ron._

With some effort, Hermione dragged her concentration back to the page in front of her. But before long, the words began to swim before her eyes. Just as the sentences stopped making sense, she heard a voice beside her whisper her name.

"Hermione," said the voice, "wake up." Hermione lifted her head from the desk to the sound of muffled laughter. She surveyed her Chemistry class with a look of bafflement upon her face. To her right, her best friend Ginny had just nudged her awake and was currently indicating with her eyes that Hermione should watch the whiteboard.

"Miss Granger, would you kindly answer the question?" Mr. Snape asked.

"Sorry sir. I wasn't listening." Hermione answered truthfully.

"Yes," remarked Mr. Snape, "that much I deduced from your snoring."

Laughter rippled across the room again, as Hermione cast her eyes downwards.

Mr. Snape allowed himself a smirk before going on "If you expect to do well in your O levels, you will need to pay more attention in class, understand?"

After a pause, Hermione quietly replied "Yes, sir."

Seeming to be satisfied with her answer, Mr. Snape continued teaching his students about electrolytic cells.

At the end of the lesson, as she was packing up her belongings, Hermione looked up to find her teacher looming over her desk. _Geez, _she thought to herself _I hate it when people hover._

"Miss Granger, you are the best science student in your year and yet you insist on daydreaming in my class. I know that you want to do well in your exams, so please make an attempt to show at least some interest when I am up at the board and get some sleep, okay?"

"Yes sir." Hermione automatically replied, before moving to the door where Ginny was waiting for her.

"What happened in there?" her friend asked after they had walked for a little while.

Hermione replied "I dreamt I was..."

"...in Hogwarts again." Ginny finished for her. "You know that it's just a dream, don't you?"

"Yeah, I know." Hermione agreed. "But it just seems so real, so vivid, like I'm actually there."

"Dreams can be like that." Ginny conceded. "Well, some people's dreams do anyway. Mine mainly consist of failing exams and snogging boys."

"What, like Harry?" Hermione teased.

"Yeah," Ginny blushed.

Hermione liked to stir her friend, but knew exactly how Ginny felt for Harry. She could never understand what Ginny saw in him, he was the school loner and generally kept to himself. He had shied away from human company ever since his parents died in a car crash that he had miraculously managed to survive. Hermione had always found him to be a bit strange, but she didn't judge her friend on her taste in boys.

"So," said Ginny, attempting to steer the conversation away from her crush, "what was your dream about this time?"

"Well, nothing interesting really." Hermione mumbled.

"Oh, come on, out with it then. You must have at least dreamt about your _boyfriend_." Ginny teased.

"He's not my boyfriend!" Hermione retorted. "And anyway, he's still with Lavender."

"Calm down, it's alright." Ginny soothed. "It's not like he's real or anything."

"I know," conceded Hermione, "but he seems real to me. It all seems real."

"You're so weird," said Ginny, "but then again I wouldn't hang out with you if you weren't."

"Thanks, I think" Hermione replied.

"Well, I better get going," Ginny said as they reached her locker, "Dad'll be waiting for me."

"Okay," said Hermione, "see you tomorrow then."

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Well, that's it for now. Stay tuned for the next chapter. Reviewers, please, be gentle. 

This story has been temporarily postponed as I am studying for exams at the moment. I am still deciding whether I want to leave this as a one-off or keep going, we shall see...


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